Relationship with God is first understood as an individual relationship – as a loving parent with an only child. With God each of his children is aided in first meaning holding the perception that God treats him or her as though the person is the only one of children. That is to say individuals should work through their spiritual lives perceiving their relationship with God as though they alone (separate from all others) are responsible to account for themselves in the final evaluation (judgment) of a life lived. There is a sense in which no other person has advanced or impeded my relationship with God. My choices taken partly from others make all the contributions for good or ill my own. Part of the ultimate evaluation will relate to my contributions for good or ill, but that evaluation belongs to the mystery of God’s education that is accepted for the maturation of his child in all things. This then moves from the individual to the family and from the family to the community unto the societies of the world – evaluated within generations. There is a straight line (fidelity) from God to the individual, then to the family, to the community until the place and influence are concluded along the way to God’s meaning. In Matthew 18, the Christian is invited to participation in the world and heaven through prayer, mission, stewardship, and engagement – in a love/care attitude.
Once the fundamental base is set, that God deals with us first as individuals for our benefit and worth we are urged to make effective loving relationships with others in achieving meaning and maturation for life, and God’s will for the good of persons – all persons. God’s context is so integrated that he can treat all persons as one, which is the base for our human equality that only represents itself in the contexts of our lives. There is one bride of Christ – the Church made up of that population God admits to his kingdom. There is one lively Temple of God related to the Church. So it shall be that the one will be many and the many one. On the level of nature we do not quite get the meaning, but we can sense it in such perceptions as the Trinity of God – one God of three persons with each serving a role: Father (authority source) Son (relational identity), and Holy Spirit (nurturing ministry) as illustrated in the human experience of father, mother and child. Roles do not determine status, but they are real. For many persons the resistance to the fulfillment of the roles God affords for order and responsibility becomes a major reason for insecurity, loss of fulfillment, and resistance to the humility of God – all of which takes away some of the blessing of God in human performance. The father, mother, and child become living earth analogy of heaven’s Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the concept of one in essence but three in persons. Each carries a role assisted by the other. The singularity has followed us since our first parents. Much of science is at work finding the strain that has followed that indicates the oneness of humanity. All of this is mystery to the earthbound student of life, but there is sufficient evidence to inform us of the uniqueness of all mankind, but only fulfilled in Christian surrender to the plan of God. We are one in the spirit. We are one in the Lord. So goes the hymn. It takes careful and thoughtful study of Scripture to organize the concept for conduct.
Each person (normal to responsibility) ought to cultivate (choose to mature) his/her own life (holistic). In that context the person finds meaning, fulfillment, and contribution to others. Because God needs nothing to gain his own meaning, he takes our service to others as service to him. That service proves us to ourselves. God already knows if we are persons of spiritual integrity. The humanist doing service to others is, perhaps unknowingly, serving the creator. The Christian is serving the Redeemer-creator. The open secret is that the creator and redeemer are the same in the unity of God. That unity is well cast in the opening verses of the Epistle to the Hebrews that note (among other divine works of God) the role of Christ: by whom also he made the worlds. The understandable skepticism, bound as we are by so much of the creation itself, makes us wonder why we do not have more information about some details relating to creation. The answer is likely that we have all we need. We are asked for faith to leap over any obstacle course and accept God’s terms, the terms he can offer without self-rejection – something he cannot do. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020